


Buy Yourself Another Day

by Yessica



Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [15]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Injury, Coliseum Fighting, Dehumanization, Dehydration, Forced Fighting, Hallucinations, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Shock Collars, Starvation, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27051496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/pseuds/Yessica
Summary: Gar is kidnapped and forced into a terrible situation.(Whumptober day 16 - Hallucinations)
Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949233
Kudos: 15
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Buy Yourself Another Day

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my "forced coliseum fighter Gar" au that I haven't gotten around to writing the full fic for, I decided to do this oneshot instead.

Gar didn't know how many days it had been since he got captured. With his wrists shackled above his head and to the wall, he couldn't move around much let alone see through the tiny barred window somewhere above him. It threw a constant dusty yellow light into his cell but there was no distinguishing between night or day. He didn't know what planet he was on – didn't even know the solar system – but he was starting to suspect it just lacked the cycles earth had.

They didn't feed him properly. Maybe four or five times since he had been here, they had brought in a disgusting heap of what reeked like raw flesh and a bowl of lukewarm water. Gar had refused to eat at the start, but his body was growing weaker and he couldn't afford to starve himself if he wanted to be able to get out of here. He was sure the others were looking for him, tracking him down one way or another. Robin was the smartest person he knew. Starfire had experience with intergalactic travel. Cyborg could employ all those fancy gadgets he never shut up about.

And Raven-

He knew she wouldn't let anyone or anything stand in her way to find him.

They _had_ to find him.

When the handlers next came to his cell they didn't bring anything except a thin rope and a collar. Gar trashed against them as they tried to clasp it around his throat, managing to knock one of them straight onto their asses. But in the end, there was little use fighting against the multiple hands forcing him down and he felt the cold metal against his skin as the collar closed with an audible click. The chilliness was short-lived as with the press of a button electricity started coursing through Gar's body. It burned in his veins, making him writhe in pain.

When the repeated shocks finally subsided, he was curled up on his side on the ground, breathing heavily. They attached the rope to an iron ring at the front of the collar and used it to pull him into the hallway. Despite the pain, Gar had no choice but to get up and walk if he didn't want to be dragged along the ground instead.

The stone network of cavern tunnels underneath the coliseum was unlighted by torches or windows but with a few blinks, Gar could easily adjust his vision to see shapes in the dark. Doors to cells like his own lined both walls and from several places, he could hear low moans or hurtful noises, none of them seeming quite human in nature. The creature leading him on pulled on the leash hard when Gar hesitated at one door that sounded like there might be a child on the other side, almost making him stumble.

Following behind them closely, they made their way onto the higher levels of the underground structure. In stark contrast to the damp isolation cells down below, this floor was built to accommodate large wards where multiple fighters could sleep at once. They mulled around idly, covered with scars and with similar collars around their throats as the one forced on Gar. All of them averted their eyes and stepped out of the way as the brutes led him through.

They finally emerged into the arena itself. Blinking a few times, Gar adjusted quickly to that same muddy light he had noticed in his cell. He looked up – his first glance at the unknown planet's sky – and saw nothing but a dusty vapor, hanging in the air so heavily it even cut off the shine of a small sun that would normally cast its minimal rays. No wonder it was so dim.

The one pulling him dragged him forward and removed the leash from the collar before taking several steps back to stand in a row of handlers lined against the outer walls. They conversed in hushed whispers in that alien language Gar did not understand as they observed the fighters. Looking around, Gar realized there were several others in the stadium, engaging in small scuffles. He realized belatedly that this was some kind of introductory trail to see who was fit to fight, and who wasn't.

Gar didn't want to know what would happen to those considered obsolete.

He glanced over his shoulder but it didn't look like any of the handlers were paying him much attention. Maybe the atmosphere wouldn't be suited for flight, but he wouldn't know until he tried. Gar concentrated on transforming into a bird – something fast and agile would do, like a peregrine falcon. Within the blink of an eye, he was rising from the ground, but the escape attempt was cut short by another shock from the collar.

It not only hurt like a bitch, it also somehow undid his transformation and Gar plummeted to the ground miserably. A low growl came out of his throat, claws pulling at the metal but there was no way he was going to be able to take this thing off without some kind of key. Shaking himself, he recovered just in time to see a large quadruped beast charging at him. He was barely able to change into a mouse to evade the attack.

The beast turned around to face him again, getting into the familiar crouching position of a predator about to jump its prey. Gar morphed into a tiger to anticipate the pounce, managing to roll to the side and get on top of it. He sunk his incisors into its jugular, tasting the bitter vile spray of unnaturally colored blood against his tongue.

After a few seconds of pushing it down into the dirt, the beast stopped moving.

Gar's sensitive hearing picked up murmurs from the crowd of handlers and when he turned around they were watching him and nodding approvingly. He exhaled through his nose, spitting out the blood in his mouth onto the sand.

So long as he was wearing the collar, escape would be near impossible. At least his fighting prowess had won the favor of his new 'masters'. They would keep him alive, keep him in good enough health to fight in the arena for their sick pleasure.

All Gar had to do was hold out until the others got here.

* * *

New matches were held on a daily basis in front of large jeering crowds.

Sometimes they were one on one, sometimes large groups were thrown into the arena at once until only one remained standing. After a while, Gar stopped caring if his opponents were sentient or not, unable to communicate with them either way. Guilt restricted his heart every time one of them stopped breathing, every time he plunged a blade into their gut or squeezed the life out of their lungs.

But it was either kill or be killed. And Gar was not ready to die.

They would come for him, he was still sure of this. More than anything else he just had to stay alive until then.

Despite his certainty about that, he never stopped trying to escape. The collar was fitted to react to any use of his powers outside of the arena, where he was under the watchful eye of the handlers and their spectators. Any attempt to break out the bricks in the ward or the bars on the windows was too easily spotted and would take too long. There was no chance he would be able to sneak out undetected either.

Gar barely slept anymore, kept awake by the noises in the hallways and his own thoughts swirling around in his head. The smell of blood and gore was constant and overwhelming in the coliseum, giving him a persistent headache. He pulled both the blanket and pillow over his head but even that couldn't drown out the anguished cries of the other prisoners.

They weren't treated like people. Food was delivered in buckets or haphazardly thrown onto the floor, for them to scoop up with their hands. Along the wall were several faucets above a wide gutter which served as both their only water supply and the place they were meant to relieve themselves. Every so often they were lined up in the coliseum and hosed down to prevent disease. Gar's hair was getting long, falling loosely onto his shoulder blades, and with no way to cut it he just left it as is.

They would come for him.

The fighting was taking its toll on his body too. The bottoms of his bare feet were blistered and raw from the scuffles, though his quick healing kept the injuries from incapacitating him. There wasn't a moment that Gar wasn't covered in bruises and once a blow to the face had caught him so off guard it had knocked out one of his teeth. The constant strain on his body was making him immeasurably tired.

Maybe that's what led to him making his dumb mistake. Desperation kept clawing at his mind – drove him to try and flee again.

They would come for him, but when?

The first guard was easy to knock out, but Gar didn't make it to the second one before he felt the now familiar course of electricity running through him. Without enough energy left inside him to scream, Gar simply curled into a ball. They let the shock linger a lot longer than usual, until his muscles spasmed tightly and he didn't think he could get up even if he wanted to.

Then they hauled him up by both arms and dragged him back into the bowels of the coliseum.

* * *

Gar was introduced to an unknown kind of darkness.

This prison was smaller than his original cell. They didn't chain him up again because there was nowhere to go either way. He could barely stand upright and stretch out both arms. There were no more windows and only a lack of light reached him through the minuscule crack beneath the door.

They didn't feed him.

It was a punishment. A stubborn child put in time-out by their parents. Gar felt only the emptiness of his stomach, the dry heavy feeling of his mouth, as he laid on hard stones in complete black, without even a blanket against the chill. They would come for him, but maybe he would rot before they did.

He closed his eyes. It did not make a difference but it made it easier for him to picture their faces. While sleep was denied him – the collar shocking him every time he was about to slip into blissful slumber – he still dreamt of them awake.

"What did you do to yourself?" Raven asked. Her hands were cold as ice on his skin, cupping the side of his face. Her fingers traced the line of his jaw, weaved into his long hair. Gar wanted to keep her there forever.

His trembling hands were just able to grasp the unshape of her wrists. "You came for me."

Her smile was wispy, faded like shadows. "Did you doubt us?"

Gar wanted to tell her he didn't. That despite all the abuse and the pain and the savage desire for survival, chunks of flesh beneath his nails and skin between his fangs, he never lost faith in them. But it would be a lie and he didn't want to lie to her even if she wasn't real.

"You'll have to tell me," he said instead, "if you hate the person I will become in here. When you find me there will only be a monster left."

They dragged the bodies out of the coliseum themselves. Threw them into large piles to be burned. Ash and smoke filled the sky. Sometimes Gar thought that was why the ether here looked the way it did, though he knew that probably wasn't the case.

Not-Raven shook her head. "I could never hate you."

Gar wished he could say it was a consolation, but that would be a lie too. Even if she would not hate him for the blood on his hands, the innocents he had killed for necessity - for the slim chance of seeing her beautiful eyes again.

That didn't mean he could forgive himself.

**Author's Note:**

> [my Tumblr](http://sharada-n.tumblr.com/)


End file.
